Arguments

x,y

vectors or matrices of data for plotting. The number of
rows should match. If one of them are missing, the other is taken
as y and an x vector of 1:n is used.
Missing values (NAs) are allowed.

type

character string (length 1 vector) or vector of 1-character
strings indicating the type of plot for each
column of y, see plot for all possible
types. The first character of type
defines the first plot, the second character the second, etc.
Characters in type are cycled through; e.g., "pl"
alternately plots points and lines.

lty,lwd,lend

vector of line types, widths, and end styles.
The first element is for the first column, the second element for
the second column, etc., even if lines are not plotted for all
columns. Line types will be used cyclically until all plots are
drawn.

pch

character string or vector of 1-characters or integers for
plotting characters, see points.
The first character is the plotting-character for the first plot,
the second for the second, etc. The default is the digits (1
through 9, 0) then the lowercase and uppercase letters.

col

vector of colors. Colors are used cyclically.

cex

vector of character expansion sizes, used cyclically.
This works as a multiple of par("cex"). NULL is
equivalent to 1.0.

bg

vector of background (fill) colors for the open plot
symbols given by pch = 21:25 as in points. The
default NA corresponds to the one of the underlying function
plot.xy.

Graphical parameters (see par) and any further
arguments of plot, typically plot.default, may also be
supplied as arguments to this function; even panel.first etc
now work. Hence, the high-level
graphics control arguments described under par and the
arguments to title may be supplied to this function.

add

logical. If TRUE, plots are added to current one,
using points and lines.

verbose

logical. If TRUE, write one line of what is
done.

Details

Points involving missing values are not plotted.

The first column of x is plotted against the first column of
y, the second column of x against the second column of
y, etc. If one matrix has fewer columns, plotting will cycle
back through the columns again. (In particular, either x or
y may be a vector, against which all columns of the other
argument will be plotted.)

The first element of col, cex, lty, lwd is used to plot the axes
as well as the first line.

Because plotting symbols are drawn with lines and because these
functions may be changing the line style, you should probably specify
lty = 1 when using plotting symbols.

Side Effects

Function matplot generates a new plot;
matpoints and matlines add to the current one.